LHC sets new beam collision record
By ANIMonday, June 28, 2010
LONDON - The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s highest-energy particle accelerator, has produced a record-breaking particle collision rate - almost two times the previous rate.
According to physicist Andrei Golutvin, the collider is now generating about 10,000 particle collisions per second, which means scientists have inched closer to their objective of uncovering the mysteries of the Universe.
The LHC is stationed in a 27km circular tunnel under the French-Swiss border.
The European Organization operates the machine for Nuclear Research (Cern), based near Geneva, Switzerland.
“It’s clear that the LHC is the new boy in town, but in two years running we’re going to put Fermilab out of business,” The BBC quoted operation group leader Mike Lamont, as saying.
The Tevatron particle accelerator at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Illinois, US, is the LHC’s rival.
It has operated at higher intensities, but the current collision rate is a record for Cern.
The LHC is expected to overtake the American machine in due course.
Currently, it is running at half the energy it was designed for, but the scientists aim to take the machine to the top energy of 14 trillion-electronvolt (TeV) per beam by 2013. (ANI)
